Anza man enters Track and Field Hall of Fame

ANZA -- After injuring his knee a few years ago in a traffic
accident, Burl Gist's track and field career was over, but last
month the veteran jumper and hurdler learned that his name will
always be a part of the sport.

Last month, Gist, 81, received a letter from the USA Track and
Field Masters Hall of Fame Committee, informing him that he was
chosen by a panel to be added to the exclusive club for racers
older than 40.

"It's about the best thing that has ever happened to me," Gist
said recently. "I definitely wasn't expecting it."

Getting there wasn't easy. His trek began 30 years ago. Gist
only had a few months to prepare for his first race.

"The first track meet I entered was a national championship,"
Gist said from his home in Anza.

The year was 1971 and the USA Track and Field National
Championships were being held in San Diego that summer. At age 51,
Gist laced up to compete in the Master's Division II, for men 50 to
59 years old. Before the day he raced in 1971, it had been more
than three decades since Gist had run in his last track meet as a
college student.

As a member of a softball league during the 1970s, Gist earned a
reputation as a base stealer and thought maybe he had what it would
take to win a race.

"I was always fast rounding those bases, so when I heard about
this track and field thing I thought I'd try it," said Gist, who
worked as a public works inspector for the city of Escondido.

There was one small problem: Gist had a 20-year smoking habit to
kick.

"I quit smoking in November and the track meet was in July,"
Gist said.

A week before his first race, Gist was timing himself on the
100-yard dash and pulled two muscles -- one in each leg.

Barely able to walk, Gist had to pull out of every event he had
entered except one, the high jump.

On the day of the race, trainers wrapped Gist's legs into two
bundles of muscles and tape.

"I couldn't even run and it hurt just to walk," Gist said.

Despite jumping with the two pulled hamstrings, Gist finished in
second place in the event and launched himself into a track and
field career that would result in several world championships.

The next year, 1972, Gist came back and defeated the national
champion in the high jump.

In 1975, Gist traveled to Toronto for his first world
championships and won two gold medals, one for the high jump and
one in the hurdles.

During his racing career, which lasted 25 years until he was 76
years old, Gist's competed in events around the world, from New
Zealand to Italy, Australia and Finland.

"I raced against several former Olympians," Gist said.

Gist's last track meet was in 1996. Later that year Gist was in
a traffic accident, leading him to undergo knee surgery -- ending
his racing days.

"If it wasn't for this, I'd still be jumping," Gist said,
pointing to the long scar carved into knee.